Office 14 not coming in 2009, says Ballmer

Speaking to shareholders and the media alike, Steve Ballmer went on record today to talk about Microsoft's future. One of the most interesting tidbits of information that Ballmer disclosed was the current state of Office 14. The suite was expected for release later this year, even though Microsoft had never revealed an official roadmap. Ballmer dispelled that notion, saying that the suite would not be available this year.

Whether the Office 14 release plans have been affected due to further development going to Windows 7 wasn't made clear, though that's highly unlikely as for the most part there are separate development teams dedicated to each of those.

Ballmer also touched on various other topics, mentioning that Microsoft wants to retain a dominant share of operating systems in netbooks. He also admitted that IE is continuing to lose share, but believes that IE8 will turn that around. He mentioned they see both Apple and the Linux movement as competitors, and wouldn't be surprised to see Android-based PCs coming soon.